Public Facilities – Library, Community Centers, Parks – USA vs. India

Imagine you plan to move to a new city… what do you normally look for before renting a place? Typically, we look at things like how close the new place is to grocery store, gym, library, Community centers, park, lake, beach, etc. Apart from that, we also look at stuff like quality of the facilities mentioned above and how well they are maintained, etc…The reality is, based on my experience, they differ in USA and India. This article will talk about the differences and this is part of the Article series Life in US vs. India

Public Libraries, Community Centers, Community Parks in USA vs. India

Public Libraries are very important for a family or individuals. Because they provide us options to borrow books, magazines, movies, etc. As I have mentioned in article: How libraries work in USA, in America public libraries provide so many facilities to you, you can borrow as many books as you want and you can borrow many DVDs or video tapes. You can request various kinds of books, there are special programs for kids, etc. In comparison with Public libraries in India, we may not expect everything that we see in US. The primary reasons are like budget for libraries, technology in libraries, tax money, etc.

Community centers are important for hosting any kind of parties or events. In America, every small neighborhood or village, town will have its own community center. Depending on the place, they may be very sophisticated. In India, if you are in towns or cities we have similar places for hosting any events, they may not be sophisticated as in US. Also, if you are in small towns in India, we tend to host functions in Schools. Anyways, community centers are not a very big deal to compare US with India.

If you have kids, you want to let them play in a park or if you are an athlete, you may want to run… if you have a party, you may want to host it in Park, etc. Bottom line, community parks are the ones that serve this purpose. In America, due to the large size of the country and various regulations, every small neighborhood ranging from village to big city will have community parks for recreation for kids or hosting any kind of outdoor parties. Most of them are very well maintained…I go to parks a lot, because they are good places to study, walk or run. In comparison, there are rules in India too to have community parks for every neighborhood, but due the size of the population and less funding from government, they may not be well maintained as in US…Also, they can get really crowded if you are in bigger cities in India…unlike, in US, the density of population is less and you have more room for doing things…

Decision about Public Facilities in India vs. USA :

As India is a developing country, it is in the phase of transforming the public systems like Libraries, Community parks and community centers. Unlike, America is a well developed nation and everything is planned well for public, also there is huge budget to maintain the standards including regulations. In my opinion, it might take some time(10 to 30 years) for India to catch up to some of the standards of US and have facilities like in America….Unless you live in a cosmopolitan and sophisticated neighborhood in India, America seems to be a better choice as of now in terms of public facilities like libraries, parks, and community centers.

In your insistent need to remain politically correct, you are not spelling it out as it is. You have become completely American in the way you communicate.

Let’s face the truth instead of running away from it. Indian public facilities suck. Yeah S.U.C.K suck. I’m in AP, and recently I had the bad luck to go to a 5 Star hotel which claimed to have a restaurant that faced a serene “lake”. I was attacked by mosquitoes and the putrid smell of garbage and human faeces throughout my uncomfortable dinner. People are uneducated, uncaring for others, and generally disgusting as far as hygiene is concerned in India. The Government tries hard to outdo the citizenry in apathy for public standards.

In the US however, there is regulation for hygiene. People are on the whole better educated and more civil. I’m not saying there are NO morons in America, but the morons tend to keep themselves to themselves in public, instead of being loud and attention seeking in India. I could have sued that darn hotel’s arse in America, and would have been well redressed (at-least by a written apology); but in India, I will become bankrupt and die a slow economic death over the next 2 decades if I even touch a “court” of “law”.

So yeah, as far as public facilities and general life is concerned, I will not hesitate one bit to FLEE to the USA or any other developed Western European country – I demand a better life and better chances for my kids.